Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Palak Paneer -- Paneer in a Spinach gravy

Palak Paneer

My elder daughter is a recent convert. I mean she is almost a convert from a non-vegetarian to a vegetarian. She refuses to eat most fish except salmon. She doesn't want to eat meat on two consecutive days.She eats her eggs with no enthusiasm.

In a family like ours, this creates a difficult scenario. All the more because she has gone from a "no-fuss" eater to a somewhat "finicky" eater these days. She doesn't like to have just Dal & Rice or just veggies and rice either. In our family "finicky" eaters are assuaged with an omlette on the side and will eat anything with that option. This doesn't work with S though. She eats her broccoli and carrots with a dip but when served with rice all she wants is Paneer.

Her Didun(my Mom) is party responsible for this. When she was visiting last year and Big Sis S refused to eat fish or meat, my Mom in a mode of panic that the child is not getting any protein took to feeding her Paneer. And not any store bought Paneer either. Every other day my Ma would make a little chhana or chhena(home made paneer) just for her and then she would shape them in small flat discs, fry them to a golden brown and make delicious gravy with them. This is a Bengali favorite and is called "Chhanar Dalna".The homemade paneer is super soft and soaks up the delicious slightly sweet gravy in which it sits, making it anyone's delight.

With Didun back in India, such delicacies are a luxury and though my Ma insists that I could take time out and make some "home made chhana" and chhana'r dalna for Big Sis S, I pretend not to listen and go buy Paneer instead.

Big Sis S has complied and eats this store bought paneer. She has Paneer on most week days and then she takes a Paneer Pualo for lunch almost one day every week. At school when her teacher asked her what she was having for lunch, she figured she didn't know English of Panner and so said it was chicken instead. With Paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese) and a bowl of plain yogurt as the incentive, she pretty much eats all other veggies on her plate.

Everyone has a Palak Paneer recipe and I myself have tried and tweaked several. This tweaked version of the old favorite is the the one I love most. It is nice and creamy and comes with all the goodness of green spinach and white paneer. S too eats it up without a murmur about the greenery.

Palak Paneer

Prep: Cut almost 12 oz of Paneer in small cubes. There were about 28-30 paneer cubes.

The Nanak brand of Paneer I usually buy is pretty soft by my standard and I don't fry them. If your paneer is hard sitting in the refrigerator microwave for a few seconds to make it soft or if your paneer is the tough variety, fry lightly and dunk in salted warm water

Add 1/2 cup of 2% Milk + 1 cup of water, mix well with all the masala and let it simmer

When the gravy comes to a boil add the Paneer pieces and let the gravy simmer at low heat for 10-15 minutes (approx. timing). By this time the gravy should be thick and creamy and there should not be any raw smell

I sometimes add very little sugar at this point as it suits my taste. You can also add 1/2 - 1 tbsp cream to this dish at this point which I don't

Just before taking it off the heat sprinkle 1/4 tsp of Garam masala powder and add 1/4 tsp of Ghee. Mix well and delicious creamy palak paneer is ready to serve

This goes very well with Roti or Naan and even with a Rice dish

Trivia:The ruling aristocracy in India from 1500 until the mid 19th Century was of Turkic, (Central Asian), and Persian origin, and it was they who introduced paneer to India.

In Bangladesh and eastern India, two kinds of cheese are commonly found: ponir (a hard paneer) and chhana or chhena (a soft paneer). Ponir is a salty semi-hard cheese made in villages across Bangladesh, and Orissa and West Bengal in India. Its sharp flavor and high salt content contrasts with the softer, milder chhana/chhena. (And I always thought Bong way of saying Paneer was Ponir !!!)

52 comments:

Sandeepa, diduns are meant for that, to spoil their grand daughters. DD2 who was an independent refuses to eat by herself after my mom left. The palak paneer look so good. I am not very fond of this dish unless made by someone else.

My mom was very shocked when my son said he didn't like fish or meat! She blamed me :( Somehow, she made my son to eat fish, still he loves it! Vegetables are very hard for him!Palak paneer looks very tasty, I should try ur version!

Palak paneer looks delicious, San! I like the kasuri methi addition too. Little S is getting fussy, huh? But looks like you've figured out the permutations and combis that work for her :) I don't think I've ever had freshly made paneer before. I can just imagine that being soft and yum!

Yeah, they do go thru' phases but hope she doesn't give up eating Fish all together, really good for our brain. Wish I had taught my kids to eat Seafood earlier, now they do like Shrimp and Crab! :D

Palak Paneer looks so yum, it is our fave and yes, we always eat that with rice too. There is one best product called SWAD Palak Paneer and Paneer Makhani, Trisha LOVES those. She has instructed me to buy her those whenever I go to Indian store and give it to her in the college dorm,so she can have it Microwaved.

There is no chance in heck my kids will opt for vegetarianism! Hahaha!

Sandeepa, I am in splits about the Ponir. My MIL always says Ponir and I really did (till this moment after reading your post) think it was just Paneer in a Bong accent! I think as the kids get older they seem to like the westernized food more and more. Turning veg in a Bengali household has got to be a passing phase :-)

My 2 girls Love palak paneer.. they will just spoon it out of the bowls.. & they are gone faster than anything else. My hubby used to hate paneer & palak, but eats palak paneer ( since kasuri methi gets rid of the palak smell), & tikka paneer. A favorite dish of all:-)

I'm used to non fried paneer in PP as in most Delhi restaurants(and the homes where I've eaten)that's how it was.The paneer here of course is a different story and I have yet to come up with a satisfactory PP recipe, yours looks mighty tasty, will try.

Grandmas are for these things. You know myself being a poor eater my grandma would make little rice flor to make rice noodles at home when I was a kid. The same happens when my elder one asks for a poori in the evening and amma makes them in a jiffy. Once she made a whole bowl of Gulab jamuns on a Sunday evening having my elder one taste just a bit. He's that bad :( The palak paneer makesme drool and its one of long awaiting recipe in my todo list.

Hi Sandeepa, Thanks once more for a good post. Sympathies dear sympathies.... Feel better, as many of us go through these ones. Believe me I am always sandwiched between my son refusing to eat out in a Chinese joint and my husband, who is currently into an experimenting mood.

My son, who is going to be 12 in July, now prefers a 'thali'/ bento/ platter kind of spread . Therefore every eating out is to be 'preceded by' a 'letz talk thru this one' session.

On the face Fish is a no-option. But, till now, finally eats a fish meal, on one week night and on 2 meals in the weekend.

VaniDoesn't the Kasoori methi act wonder ?Freshly made paneer is definitely very soft but as I said I like the Nanak one too. You get it at Apna Bazaar or Patel

AshaYeah if I do that, she will say "Ok I am not coming next time" :)I will try SWAD, haven't tried frozen dinners muchTrisha comes home on every weekend ?

SharmiThankfully not much McDonald craze here. Once in a while but that's itAbout the pics I upload in Photobucket

SJ

Maccher Chop, she will eat at other people's house but not at home. I guess it is a phase, she will even eat shrimp at other people's home but not at her own.Recently she started liking salmon though, lets see

Soma

I love the baby spinach though I wasn't fond of palak earlier

Meenal

I will ask Mom to teach the same to S too :)

DelhiBelleI don't fry paneer either. As I had said some brands I get here is very good. Though most Bengalis fry paneer and then add it to gravy

A & NI don't think I will post paneer dalna any time soon, see I have no time to make homemade chenna. Maybe when Grandma is visiting again:)

Nags

I added milk because I don't add the cream at the end

Shivapriya

Cashew paste is a great idea, shall do that next time

Sra

These spinach are so tender, no need to boil. Somehow I feel saute and puree gives it a nice taste

Nirmala

Did I tell you I am so jealous that your Mom lives with you. My older one was on that poori craze last year when my Mom was here

BWM

Thankfully S is still pretty enthu about all kinds of eating out. She doesn't like Thai too much but we go to a Thai place so often that now she has complied, she eats the appetizers and a pineapple fried rice.Actually with most places we eat out she is pretty happy :)You should post some yummy pics of the Thali and the Bento. I am really interested to see. Have never had a bento lunch

Sharmila

You are right. Ewwww...tomar didi'r obostha bujhte parchi :D

MeetaK

I guess it is a sinusoidal curve, they will hit the plateau maybe in the teens

Sunita

I add the milk because I don't add any cream, so I add the milk for a little richness

GO big sis 'S'..Go big sis 'S'..welcome to the vegetarian side...LOL...don't hate me Sandeepa :)..and yep! grandmas.. the moms we had..who would lecture us on wasting food and being picky...turn out to be enablers with grandkids...let me not discuss about dads here..they are worse IMHO :)

Sandeepa, I tried your recipe today and I loooooved the outcome. I actually had guests, and they loved it too. Thank you!The only changes I made: I added the palak without blanching them and let them wilt in the container (I am lazy!). The kasoori methi was a great idea...gave it some kind of depth. You are, as usual, mu favorite.

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is extremely helpful for me.

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine